Rationality and belief /

This book is a sequel to the author's The Value of Rationality (CH, Jun'18, 55-3548), and it will be succeeded by her The Rationality of Choice. Together the three volumes will present the author's "systematic answer" to a question: "What is it for an individual's beliefs to count as rational or as justified?" (p. 3). The present volume builds on the preceding by taking the "general conception of rationality" therein articulated and applying it to the case of belief. Wedgwood (Univ. of Southern California) sees rationality as an evaluative concept tied to the notion of "good thinking." The "goodness" of thinking, itself a matter of degree, is in turn analyzed as an "internalist" value. The first four chapters of the book recapitulate this conception of rationality, and are followed by four chapters that present a taxonomy of the various kinds of belief and the degrees to which they can be correct or incorrect. These eight chapters lead to five chapters in which Wedgwood explains his conception of the "rational probability function" by which the degree of irrationality of a belief can be assessed. This book presupposes thorough grounding in the intricacies of contemporary epistemology, to which it is a significant contribution. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. --Michael John Latzer, Gannon University